Hospitals Engaging in Risky Use of Clotting Drug

April 19, 2011

An expensive clotting drug approved to treat only hemophilia has become extremely popular in hospitals to stem bleeding during heart surgery, brain hemorrhages, trauma, liver transplants, and prostate removal. Yet a massive new analysis of 64 studies of these “off label” uses of the drug, recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa), has found no evidence that it prolongs life and, in some cases, it causes dangerous embolisms. “The stakes are high here in terms of patient outcome and costs,” says study leader Veronica Yank, a clinician at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, who specializes in prevention research.  (Science)